#5 | John Stones - 2020/21 Performances

[Saddleworth2]

To be fair, I don’t think most of us posting about continually supporting Stones over the years are arguing he didn’t deserve criticism for his various poor performances or personal frailties. In fact, many of us have criticised him for them. As @mccity eloquently said, “fair criticism is ok”.

I am only personally arguing that with players like Stones certain elements of the media and City supporters make it difficult for him (and other players) to ever move past that discrete criticism or the general label of being “poor”, regardless of later performance. As others have said, players are often treated as less “human” than the rest of us, for better or worse — often worse when it comes to expectations that they perform at the highest possible level all the time or they are “shit”. Again, I know I have been guilty of this in the past and I am trying to improve there, not least because I am having to struggle through seeing my abilities degrade by the month. It’s a humbling experience that certainly alters your perception of many things, including your own tendency toward being overly critical of your idols, in this case sporting role models.

Some of the higher standards of expected behaviour obviously come with the role and are perfectly reasonable — they knew they would be under a higher level of scrutiny when aspiring to be a top class footballer. But some of it is genuinely over the top (i.e. beyond normal human capacity/ability to meet) and contributes to unreasonable pressures on public figures which can, in turn, lead to very unpleasant outcomes.



Great points, as usual. And I will freely admit I have been guilty of much of the unreasonable actions you describe.



I am glad to hear your enjoyment of football is slowly returning — I certainly hope mine does, as well, as I could very much use a sustainably pleasant distraction right now.

I’m really sorry life is tough for you just now and hope things improve soon. I always enjoy your posts. Take care mate.

 

[SebastianBlue]

I’m really sorry life is tough for you just now and hope things improve soon. I always enjoy your posts. Take care mate.

Thanks, mate.

It is what is, like most things in life. I just mention my current situation as a means of framing why I am trying to be better about setting reasonable expectations for City players (in comparison to people I know personally, and so on). I have realised that I’ve generally been very critical of myself and certain others over the course of my life. And my current situation has helped me see how that can be quite destructive in the end, and how that improved understanding should be applied to how I go about things in the future. I will inevitably fail here and there — I am sure I have just this week. But I am making my best effort to improve in this regard.

There are of course a few that absolutely deserve the ultra-critical treatment (mostly powerful public figures that have proven over time that they have little-to-no regard for the well-being of others and who have an outsized impact on the day-to-day lives of many people) but I don’t think Stones is one of them, even with his well-publicised personal mistakes.

 

[sir baconface]

To be fair, I don’t think most of us posting about continually supporting Stones over the years are arguing he didn’t deserve criticism for his various poor performances or personal frailties. In fact, many of us have criticised him for them. As @mccity eloquently said, “fair criticism is ok”.

I am only personally arguing that with players like Stones certain elements of the media and City supporters make it difficult for him (and other players) to ever move past that discrete criticism or the general label of being “poor”, regardless of later performance. As others have said, players are often treated as less “human” than the rest of us, for better or worse — often worse when it comes to expectations that they perform at the highest possible level all the time or they are “shit”. Again, I know I have been guilty of this in the past and I am trying to improve there, not least because I am having to struggle through seeing my abilities degrade by the month. It’s a humbling experience that certainly alters your perception of many things, including your own tendency toward being overly critical of your idols, in this case sporting role models.

Some of the higher standards of expected behaviour obviously come with the role and are perfectly reasonable — they knew they would be under a higher level of scrutiny when aspiring to be a top class footballer. But some of it is genuinely over the top (i.e. beyond normal human capacity/ability to meet) and contributes to unreasonable pressures on public figures which can, in turn, lead to very unpleasant outcomes.



Great points, as usual. And I will freely admit I have been guilty of much of the unreasonable actions you describe.



I am glad to hear your enjoyment of football is slowly returning — I certainly hope mine does, as well, as I could very much use a sustainably pleasant distraction right now.

All credit to you, SB, for a refreshingly honest post.

 

[Craig]

If he comes through the derby having had a stormer then maybe we can read something into his form. So far he played against an appalling Greek side and Burnley. Suddenly people are putting him ahead of Laporte and talking about him being top class etc. So far he’s done what he’s done in the majority of his 4 and a half years here and looked good when under very little pressure. Hopefully he can finally find consistency and actually kick on at last but time will tell.

Him getting some game time is good to see as he’s certainly a much better 4th choice centre back than Garcia and we’ve got strength in depth in a key position.

 

[Cityinmud]

 

[decmancity]

Good job John, another good 90mins.

 

[RandomJ]

I'm really happy for him. Managed to find a way back in from the cold when it really looked like his time here was done. There will be tougher tests ahead but he has looked really good since coming back into the team.

 

[WestGorton]

Played well again.

 

[Phil1]

Top class this lad. Good to have him back.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Very solid again, he looks focussed and determined. Stones and Dias look a decent partnership.